Israeli military orders all Gaza City residents to evacuate ahead of ground assault

There was a stream of people heading south from Gaza City on Tuesday but no sign of a mass exodus

Israel has warned all residents of Gaza City to leave immediately in anticipation of a huge ground offensive.

The military's Arabic spokesman told as many as one million Palestinians living in Gaza's biggest urban centre to evacuate southwards. "Remaining in the area is extremely dangerous," he said.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said air strikes that had destroyed high-rise buildings in Gaza City in recent days were "only the beginning of the main, intensive operation" to capture what he has described as Hamas's last important stronghold.

Hamas said his remarks amounted to a "public demonstration of a fully-fledged crime of forced displacement".

Israel's plan to conquer Gaza City has also brought international criticism.

The UN has warned an intensification of the offensive on an area where a famine has already been declared will push civilians into an "even deeper catastrophe".

The message from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) - both in leaflets dropped over Gaza City, and posted on social media by its Arabic spokesman Col Avichay Adraee - was unequivocal.

"To all residents and those present in Gaza City and all its areas, from the Old City and the Tuffah area in the east to the sea in the west: The IDF is determined to defeat Hamas and will operate in Gaza City with great determination, as it has throughout the Gaza Strip," it said.

"For your safety, evacuate immediately," it added.

Israel's security cabinet approved a plan to conquer all of Gaza after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal broke down in July.

The IDF has been told to defeat Hamas after 23 months of war and return the 48 hostages still held by the armed group, of whom 20 are still believed to be alive.

In recent weeks, Israeli air and ground attacks on Gaza City have been intensifying.

Overnight, there were further air strikes on buildings the IDF said were being used by Hamas to launch attacks against its troops.

Netanyahu said in a video on Monday afternoon that 50 high-rises had been destroyed in Gaza over the previous two days.

"Now, all of this is only the introduction, only the beginning of the main intensive operation - the ground incursion of our forces," he added.

"Therefore, I am taking this opportunity to say to the residents of Gaza, listen to me carefully: You have been warned: get out of there!"

Hamas said Netanyahu's remarks were "a public demonstration of a fully-fledged crime of forced displacement, carried out under the weight of bombing, massacres, starvation, and death threats".

Photographs showed a stream of people moving south along the coastal road from Gaza City on foot, on donkey carts and in vehicles on Tuesday, but there was no sign of a mass exodus.

Hanaa, a mother of three, told the BBC she did not know where to take her family so she was holding out until they were in "real danger".

"If I knew [somewhere to go], I would have left [by now] and taken my family and my children," she said.

Hanaa lost her own home in Israeli bombing at the beginning of the war and has since been displaced with relatives.

She said "nothing can describe" how she and her loved ones were feeling now.

Razan Salha, a student, said she had fled Gaza City two days ago due to the bombardment and was now sharing a room with about 20 relatives in the central city of Deir al-Balah.

"We moved by car at a price of $375 (£276). Not everyone was displaced - there are still people in Gaza City because they haven't got any place to go or there is no transportation at a suitable price," she told the BBC in a voice note.

Razan said the "instability and homelessness" had left her "very, very tired", adding: "I've lost my hope."

The Israeli military dropped leaflets carrying the evacuation order over Gaza City

Last week, UN agencies and their humanitarian partners said the announcement of intensified Israeli military operations in Gaza City on 7 August was "having horrific humanitarian consequences for people in displacement sites".

They warned many households were unable to move due to high costs and logistical challenges, as well as a lack of safe space. And they said ordering hundreds of thousands to move south could amount to forcible transfer under international law.

On Sunday, they reported that more than 97,000 people had been newly displaced since 14 August. But only 50,000 had been observed crossing from northern to southern Gaza, as the Israeli military has instructed.

The IDF has told them to go to a newly designated "humanitarian area" in al-Mawasi.

It has said the area includes essential infrastructure, including field hospitals and water pipelines, and that supplies of food, tents and medicines will be delivered there in co-ordination with international organisations.

However, al-Mawasi has been repeatedly bombed by Israeli forces during the war and the UN says nowhere in Gaza can be considered "safe".

The UN has also warned that the tent camps there are already overcrowded and local hospitals are operating at several times their capacity.

It has said a limited number of tents have been delivered in recent weeks, but many more are needed for the hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

The UN has said Israel - which controls Gaza's border crossings - must also allow in enough food and other supplies to halt the spread of famine.

On Sunday, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher warned there was a narrow window until the end of September to prevent famine from expanding to the central city or Deir al-Balah and southern city of Khan Younis, and the window was "closing fast".

Since UN-backed global food security experts confirmed a famine in Gaza City on 22 August, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry has reported that at least 121 people have died from starvation and malnutrition across the territory.

Israel has said it is expanding its efforts to facilitate aid deliveries and has disputed the health ministry's figures on malnutrition-related deaths.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 64,605 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.